you just asked a very "difficult " question!^____^ i suggest that you try to figure out the question in this way ,find yourself some english sentences ,and translated them into chinese ,than you ask people if these sentences are good ,in this way ,maybe you would understand it better.

揭竿起义，或者，揭竿而起，是中国古代的成语，成语大多来自历史故事，我们平时不太会说“揭竿”，但是“起义”可以单独使用，表示восстание。

抛弃家庭，抛弃事业...... 放弃梦想，放弃一个机会，当你做一件事情的时候，遇到了困难，你会说“我放弃了，我不做了”，放弃=give up，而这种情况下你不会说“我抛弃了” 不要去花太多时间在同义词上，没有了context，是很难理解两个相似的词语的。加油，相信你是一个很努力的学生！

ahahahaha,good question!the question is just like: why your name is "XXX" you are a very hard-working student,i'm sure you will learn chinese well! 墙=wall,so you wonder"The Great Wall" why not we call it "长墙"，but you have made a small mistake here,which word appeared first,in ancient china ,we already had "长城",later someone translated it into english as"The Great Wall",if he translated it as "The Great City" or "The Great Castle",it will confused people.So now ,do you get it?

what's your level of chinese?i ask you this questions because among these sentences you have given ,many of them are used in idioms or proverbs,especially the "为"in 1,3,4,5 ,you should first know well about the "为"in the sentences 2,身为家庭主妇,here,"身为"="作为“，means "as being a housewife"or act as a housewife",the kind of meaning we use it a lot,and the last sentence,here ,"为"means "是"，this is a question of math ,in many math questions ,they prefer to use "为" to replace "是".maybe you can find some daily-used sentences of "为" first.^_^

和中国人多说话，可以的话，模仿他们的发音，最好再请他们纠正你

sometimes we think they are the same" 知己"and " 知音",both of them means sb knows you ,understands you so well ,he knows what color you like ,what kind of books you prefer ,or maybe what kind of men or women you will love.but if someone is already your best friend ,you usually say he is your"知己", "知音" can be used on a person maybe you two are totally strangers. "知音" comes from a ancient chinese story,"音"means "music"(音乐)，“己”means "myself“（自己）.the story is about two men they knew each others' music talent very well.

The best way is to talk to a chinese friend!^__^ Put yourself into the chinese's culture . how say,movies and songs are good ways....but sometimes they are not that used in our daily life. Use cinese as much more as you can!And I'm sure you will be speak it good in the near future!